Anna's wedding performance

So, we got to see our first authentic Chinese wedding on Saturday. The whole family attended. Our best laid plans were chucked to the curb when Elijah decided not to take a nap. I had been outside working on a bicycle for 60 minutes thinking he was zonked only to return and find him playing with cars in his bed.

Needless to say, he was a little bit off his game. It was really loud from the music and the Chinese wedding "facilitator". He was not a minister, more of a game show host. They played American music including my all time favorite from the mid-80's, "We are the World". No joke. We heard it at least 9 times.

Overall, it was another neat experience to file away in our "China" folder. Here are some captions for the pictures.

1. This is a good friend from work. His Chinese name is much too difficult for me to pronounce so he insists that I use his english name, Cloud. Yeah, initially I thought that he meant "Claud" but he confirmed that he named himself after a body of moisture in the earth's atmosphere. And he's not even a tree hugger. On a side note, you see that fairly regularly here where the Chinese people will select an English name. My favorite is one of the main maintenance guys in our compound. His name tag reads, "Wilbur". Nice. Oh, and that canister is holding, when triggered, made a loud "POP" and fired confetti everywhere. The kids loved that.

2. Our angel. She walked the aisle and delivered the rings without missing a beat. The angel wings were not a perfect fit and when Anna learned that we did not keep them, she pronounced, "Good, cause they were not that comfortable anyways".

3. Chen Wei and his family. I work with Chen Wei more than any other colleague. He's the same guy that spent 4 weeks with me in Michigan this summer.

4. I got asked by the groom to participate in a common chinese game. I had to speak about a given category and attempt to blow out a candle while speaking. So, I just decided to start with the word "PPPPPlease" and extinguished the flame. The crowd was quite impressed with the funny looking red-haired giant.

5. Cao Ying is another colleague of mine. Anna got picture requests all night but was not in the picture giving mood. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the attention. She did end up granting Cao Ying a picture.

See y'all.